Valve-gear.



No. 745,231. PATENTED NOV. 24 ,-1903. P. A. NEUHAUS & M. HOGHWALD.'

VALVE GEAR. APPLIOATION FILED 11,10, 190a.

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PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903. F. A. NEUHAUS & M. HO0HWALD.-

VALVE GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1Q, 1903.

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-- No. 745,231. PATENTED NOV. 24, 190.3. F. A. 'NEUHA-US & M. HOGHWALD.

VALVE GEAR. APPL IOATION FILED MAR. 10, 1903.

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fnventors UNITED STATES i atented November 24, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRITZ ALFRED NEUHAUS, OF CHARLOTTENBURG, AND MORITZ HOCH- WALD, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

VALVE- SPEGIFIGATION formingpart of Letters'Patent No. 745,231, dated November 24, 1903.

Application filed March 10, 1903.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRITZ ALFRED NEu- HAUs, engineer, a subject of the German Emperor, residing at 31 Schliiterstrasse, Charlottenburg, and MORITZ HOOHWALD, engineer, a subject of the Emperor of-Austria- Hungary, residing at 30 Oalvinstrasse, Berlin, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in Valve-Gears, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to releasing-gears in automatic variable-expansion valve-gears for steam, gas, or other engines in which latches engage with tails or catches on valve-actuating levers and release same at the determined moment. Such releasing-gears make a great noise and work irregularly, chiefly from two reasonsfirst, the width of the surface in which the latches touch the tails of the valveactuating levers varies too much, and, second, the latches after the release of the valve-actuating levers strike too heavily against the ends of the same.

Our invention relates to improvements in such releasing-gears,whereby the said defects are remedied; and the objects of ourinvention are, first, to provide a roller for actuating the latch; second, to provide means for holding the roller nearly in constant contact with the latch, and, third, to so arrange the valve-gear that the width of the'surface in which the latch touches the tail of the valve-actuating lever at the moment of their engagement remains the same for nearly all the various points of cut-off and that the latch is only slightly detached from the tail of the valveactuating lever at the release. We attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is an elevation of a releasing-gear with'the valve-actuatin g lever and part of the valve-chamber cover, a part of an eccentricrod being broken off. Fig. 2 is an elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a modified releasinggear and the valve'actuating lever; and Fig. 3 shows, on an enlarged scale, a part of Fig. 2 and will be referred to later on. Fig. 4 is a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 1, illustrating clearly the path of the roller in different positions determined by the governor, the shape being nearly equi- $erial No. 147,204. (No model.)

distant to the working or touching face of the latch. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a crank-shaft and eccentric for operating the valve mechanism as well as the governor for controlling the latch-guiding eccentric.

In Fig. l the valve-gear is shown as applied to a beat-valve, the spindle of which is denoted by It. On a suitable cross-head t of this spindle it acts the one arm of the two-armed valve-actuating lever g, which may be assumed to be fastened on a shaft 0, mounted to turn in the valve-box cover 5. The other arm of this lever g is provided with a tail or catch r. Apair of links (1 are mounted loosely on the shaft 0 and connected with an eccentric-rod b by means of a pin e. The eccentric-rod b is reciprocated in a known manner by an eccentric on a shaft 13, parallel to the cylinder and driven from crank-shaft. On the pin e a latchf is mounted to turn, which can engage with the tail 1" of the valve-actuating lever g. In the valve-box chamber 3 also a shaft a is mounted to turn, on which an eccentric 'i is keyed. The eccentric-rodk on the latter is connected with the links d by a rodm and carries on the free end a roller Z,

which is adapted to bear against a face 0 of the latch f, while a spring n, secured on the eccentric-rod b, is employed for pressing the latch f against the roller Z. The beat-valve is in the usual manner opened from the said horizontal shaft B by the eccentric-rod b, the.

latch f, the valve-actuating lever g, the crosshead if, and the spindle h. The release of the valve is effected at the moment when under the action of the rollerl the latch f leaves the tail 0. As is well known, it is essential that at the moment of engagement (when the eccentric-rod b is about to reach its upper extreme position) the face in which the latch f touches the tail 1" should bejsufficiently wide. Were this touching face too narrow, (for small fillings of the cylinder with steam,) the latch f would be likely to trip, which would impair the smooth running of the engine. On the other hand, were this touching face too wide (for big fillings of the cylinder with steam) the face 10, even if strengthened with a steel catch, as shown, would be likely to get damaged, and, moreover, the governor would be loaded too much in moving the latch fby the respective parts. To insure at the moment of engagement a sufficient width of the touching face between the latch f and the 5 tail 1' for nearly all degrees of filling of the cylinder, and thereby a smooth running of the engine, the pin it for connecting the cocentric-rod 7; with the rod m is placed between the shaft a and the roller l-that is to I say, at a smaller distance from the shaft to than that of the roller Zand, moreover, the rod m is linked to the links data convenient point between their two ends. The shaft CI. is preferably connected bya suitable lever A and a rod A with the moving sleeve ofa governor A The position of the eccentric 71 shown is assumed to be suitable for a filling of about sixty per cent. of the cylinder with steam or other pressure; but when the shaft a is turned through an angle of about fifty degrees to bring the eccentric t' downward the position of the latter would be suitable for the zero-point, at which no steam or other pressure at all would be admittedto the cylinder. The consequence of the arrangement of the rod m as described is that on turning the shaft Ct in the one or other direction the roller Zdoes not describe a part of a circle,

as is the case in certain known releasing- 0 gears, but a curve similar to an ellipse and which curve on starting from the zero-point is about at right angles to the face 0 of the latchf, and after reaching the point for a filling of about twenty per cent. of the cylin- 5 der is about midway of the face 0 of the latch f. Now it will be clear that the width of the touching face between the latch f and the tail 0" at the moment of their engagement will rapidly increase when the degree of filling 0 .of the cylinder rises from nil and that it will remain nearly constant beyond a filling of about twenty per cent. It may be stated that this ellipse beginning with the zero-point goes upward in Fig. 4, while in Fig.- 2 for a modified releasing-gear it goes downward and is denoted by w in Fig. 3. In correspondence with this curve, which can be easily ascertained by drafting, the face 0 of the latch f in contact with the roller Zis so shaped that during the reciprocating movement of the eccentric-rod b the latch f remains nearly constantly in contact with the rollerZ as the latter moves about. A further consequence is also that the latch f is only slightly de- 5 5 tached from the tail 0" on releasing it, so that under the act-ion of the spring 92 its face 19 hardly strikes against the end face q of the valve-actuating lever g. Thereby the usual noise is nearly or entirely avoided.

Fig. 2 shows a modified releasing-gear with the valve-actuating lever, in which similar parts are denoted by the same letters as before, only that the index has been added.

The upper extreme positions of the parts shown in full lines are in correspondence with a filling of about forty per cent. of the cylinder, while those positions of the roller Z' and the latch f for the zero-point are indicated by the dotted lines.

Fig. 3 illustrates various positions of the roller Zand the latchf. The latter is shaped conveniently to attain the effect mentioned above, the part ac y facilitating the release and the part 1 z the rengagement of the latch f with the tail r. l in Fig. 3 denotes the position of the roller Z for the zero-point, and 4: its position for a filling of sixty per cent. of the cylinder, while 2 and 3denote intermediate positions. It will be noted that the width of the touching face between the latch f and the tail r rapidly increases from the zero-point to the position indicated by 2 and henceforward remains constant.

The parts of the releasing-gear and the arm of the valve-actuating lever 9 can be varied in their lengths, shapes, and proportions, when, of course, the curve described by the roller Z on turning the shaft a in the one or the other direction will also be varied.

The valve-gear is described as applied to a beat-valve; but it is evident that it can also be applied to slide-valves, oscillating valves, and other valves.

What we claim as'our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'

1. A valve mechanism for engines comprising a valve-operating lever, a latch for moving the same, a pivoted link carrying the said latch, a guide-arm for controlling the move ment of the latch and means for communicating movement from the latch-link to the guide-arm to actuate the latter.

2. A valve mechanism for engines comprising a lever for operating a valve, a pivoted link mounted adjacent to the said lever, a lever-engaging latch carried by the outer end of said link, an eccentrically-mounted guidearm controlling the position of the said latch and a link connecting the latch-link with the guide-arm for imparting movement thereto.

3. A valve-controlling mechanism comprising a lover, a link pivoted at the axis of the lever, a latch carried at the outer end thereof for engaging the free end of the lever, a guidearm engaging said latch, an actuating-link connecting the same with the latch-link and an eccentric supporting the guide-arm and capable of varying its action with respect to the latch.

4. A valve-controlling mechanism comprising a rocking lever, a link pivoted at the axis of said lever, a latch carried thereby, means for moving the latch-link in conjunction with the operation of the engine, a guiding-arm engaging the latch and controlling the actuation of thelever by the latch, an eccentric supporting the guide-arm, means connecting the eccentric with a governor, the said eccentric varying the action of the guide-arm upon the latch in accordance with the action of the governor and means for communicating motion from the latch-link to the guide-arm.

5. A valve-controlling mechanism compris ing a valve-lever, a latch-carrying link and a guide-arm pivoted adjacent to the lever and a link connecting the two for giving them an approximately parallel movement, a lever-engaging latch carried by the latch-link, means for actuating said link and latch, and an eccentric for varying the movement of the guidearm.

6. A valvecontrol1ing mechanism for engines comprising a rocking lever, a link pivoted adjacent to the lever and carrying a lever-engaging latch, a guide-arm pivoted adjacent to the link and operating upon the inner edge of the latch, a spring engaging the outer edge of the latch for forcing it toward.

FRITZ ALFRED NEUHAUS. MORITZ I-IOOHWALD.

Witnesses:

HENRY HASPER, WOLDEMAR H AUPT. 

